Interview – Mike Wood
Man on a mission When Mike Wood found his wheelchair was a barrier to him going sailing, he built a wheelchair-accessible yacht and formed a charity so that others could join him. The Disabled Sailors Association is now our Charity of the Year – and it’s fundraising for a new catamaran that could double its intake
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ike Wood’s house is easy to spot. Several boat hulls rear up over the garden walls. Through a side gate and it’s a short walk, past multiple wheelchairs and more boats, to the back garden workshop. The noise of drilling masks my entrance. Mike is sitting at the bench, tools and bits of model aircraaft laid out before him – his other hobby, or one of them. Competitive sailing was his big thing for years but the drive has eased somewhat. “I’ve mellowed,” he says with a smile, as we chat over a coffee in the
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APRIL 2022 Sailing Today with Yachts & Yachting
home he shares with wife Irina. Mike was 33, a professional motorcyclist who raced for Honda, when a lorry hit his bike while he was riding to work. “I lost everything,” he says gently.
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Mike Wood with Spirit of Scott Bader in Port Solent, and below, at home in his workshop
That was 1978 and several months in Stoke Mandeville hospital followed, with treatment and rehabilitation that required him to play sport. He found himself winning at archery, then tried wheelchair rugby and field athletics. “I’m a C6 spinal injury, which means I shouldn’t have as much use of my hands,” he says. “I’m very lucky indeed – I’m at the very top end of the possibilities for my disability.” National titles came in almost every sport he touched and he spent a decade living the life of the elite sportsman, travelling around the world – “on my own” – and competing as part of the disabled